Run desktop flows concurrently

Important

Gateways for desktop flows are now deprecated except for the China region. Switch to our machine-management capabilities. Learn more about the switch from gateways to direct connectivity.

Windows Server (2016, 2019, and 2022) allows multiple users to sign in simultaneously on the same machine. Power Automate uses this OS capability to run multiple desktop flows simultaneously, allowing organizations to reduce infrastructure costs.

Note

Running multiple concurrent desktop flows by the same user isn't supported. You need to have different users running desktop flows simultaneously to benefit from this feature.

Replicate the following steps to run multiple desktop flows concurrently on a single machine:

1. Set up a Windows Server 2016, 2019, or 2022 device with the latest version of Power Automate installed.

2. Use two or more user accounts to create desktop flow connections targeting this device. To find more information about desktop flow connections, go to Create desktop flow connections.

Power Automate automatically scales the number of concurrent desktop flow runs to the supported maximum. The machine run queue follows a first-in, first-out approach, which means the first run received is the next one executed. If all available machines have reached their maximum concurrent sessions and can't execute the next run in the queue, the queue is blocked until a machine becomes available to run the next run in the queue. If the machine's capacity is exceeded, the remaining runs wait as described in Run desktop flows sequentially.

Important

If you want to use more than two parallel user sessions on Windows Server, you must turn on Remote Desktop Services (RDS). To learn more about RDS, go to License your RDS deployment with client access licenses.